Friday, June 14, 2013

Unpredictable

“O Arjuna, as the Supreme Personality of Godhead, I know everything that has happened in the past, all that is happening in the present, and all things that are yet to come. I also know all living entities; but Me no one knows.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 7.26)

“Hey, you won the football pool this week. You got twelve out of fourteen games right. What’s your secret?”

“What do you mean? I just picked the games. There was no secret.”

“Yeah, but others did so much research. They watched all the previous games, too. They took into consideration injuries, home field advantage, strength of schedule, and depth charts for each team. And yet you beat all of them in the end.”

“Well, I just went by a hunch. For some of the games, I liked a particular team name better. I’ve always liked lions. They’re so ferocious. They rule over the jungle. Everyone is afraid of them. I figured they could beat a bear no problem. Then the logo for the Jets team was really nice. Way better than the logo for the Browns. Actually, the Browns don’t even have a logo. Their uniforms are so ugly, too. There was no way I was going to pick them over the Jets.”

Granted, this method of selecting winners won’t always work, but it surely can prove successful from time to time. This method of selection and the ensuing good result have made their way into many comedic routines in television shows and movies. You can’t predict everything in life. Not everything is within our control. Actually, very little is. From the Vedas it is learned that there are higher authorities who control outcomes, with a central authority figure overseeing everything.

“So you’re saying that God is the central authority figure? But who is He? We’re supposed to leave everything up to Him? I’m not supposed to make plans? Okay, then I will stay up late tonight, because who knows what tomorrow will bring. Why should I plan on going to work tomorrow if tomorrow may never come? Why should I be responsible if everything under my care can vanish in an instant?”

The world we live in is temporary, and so is everything within it. Every single future event cannot be accounted for by the individual, because the objects necessary for creating that outcome may not be in place when they are needed. At the same time, our destiny with respect to residence can be shaped. This residence is specifically related to the afterlife, where the spirit soul will end up after completely exiting the current body. That body decays upon the exit of the soul, and so there is no way to go back into that body again afterwards. When they demolish an old building, there is no way to go back and live in it. The same concept applies to death. Once your body decays, you can’t go back into it. Our childhood body is gone and finished. There is no way to get it back. But just because it is gone it doesn’t mean that our existence ceases. Saying that you only get one life is as pointless as saying that you only get one childhood. There is still life after the passage of time.

Your work shapes your consciousness. In this way there should be purpose to action. Though you can’t control every outcome, your work can alter how you think. This is the uniqueness of the human species. The animal’s consciousness is set no matter what. Whatever it does, its mind will still focus on eating, sleeping, mating and defending. The human being can work in such a way that they eventually think only of God, who is the best person, place or thing to think about. Thinking about Him grants residence in His eternal abode at the end of life.

“And whoever, at the time of death, quits his body, remembering Me alone, at once attains My nature. Of this there is no doubt.” (Lord Krishna, Bg. 8.5)

Thinking about Him right now brings the mind to His transcendental abode. The Vedas give detail behind the abstract conception of God. More than just an energy of spirit and more than just a spiritual entity residing locally within, the origin of all matter and spirit is a personality. He has multiple manifestations of that personality, but there is still an original. The original is all-attractive, and so it is addressed as Krishna. It is the supreme enjoyer, so it is addressed as a male, or purusha. It is ever youthful, beautiful, and of the best complexion. And so it is known as Shyamasundara.

Since His name means “all-attractive,” Krishna is not the exclusive property of any one group. The person born into a Hindu family may know of Krishna since the time of birth and the person born into another faith may not hear of Him until adulthood, but such distinctions make no difference in the end. I may not have a slice of pizza until I’m into my thirties, but once I do the taste is just as good. The taste is the same regardless of who knows about it going in.

Tasting Krishna’s attractiveness through the five senses is worthwhile for any living entity. Even the animal can become liberated through Krishna’s association. The human being has the leg up because they can make the conscious decision to try to taste that association all the time. They can shape their activities in such a way that their thoughts remain fixed on Him. There is still some work done to maintain the body, but the worker doesn’t care so much about the results. The world is temporary after all, so how much can we really control? At the same time, whatever we do, we can think of Krishna. Since He is all-powerful, the ultimate controller, He can grant us the unfaltering ability to think of Him. With that consciousness, the outcome to life becomes easy to predict.